Fernandinho: Shakhtar aiming for Champions League final

Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Fernandinho has spoken of the club's lofty ambitions in the Champions League, with the Miners hoping to improve upon a Quarter-Final finish in 2010-11.

Fernandinho, 27, was part of the Shakhtar side that won the final edition of the UEFA Cup in 2008-09 and hopes to match that achievement in the continent's premier competition - even if he admits that the knock-out stages would be a good start.

"Our objective is to reach the final, we want to go as far as possible in the Champions League," Fernandinho told UEFA. "But at the same time, we have to be aware that we have to win the next match.

"Firstly, we must make it through to the knockout stages and then take it step by step to achieve our objective."

The box-to-box midfielder also spoke of his decision to join the Ukranian side, having left Atlético Paranaense at an early age to head to Eastern Europe.

"I left Brazil at the age of 20. When you are twenty, you are young and you have to risk things. It was a risk I took," he added.

"I arrived here in a totally different country, with a different culture, different climate, but I'm happy because everything turned out well."